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Young filmmaker takes on challenging projects

Marie Perez, Pacific Daily News
Published 1:36 p.m. ChT Oct. 22, 2017

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Julan Villegas is an independent filmmaker who challenges himself by creating action films. His recent film, "Project Fortress," was screened at the Guam International Film Festival 2017
Marie Antoinette Perez/PDN

Julan Villegas, 18, is an independent filmmaker. His action film "Project Fortress" was screened at the Guam International Film Festival 2017(Photo: Courtesy of Guam International Film Festival)

“It’s these small things that can happen that can get you into bigger things,” Julan Villegas said as he began his story.

Villegas recounted how he discovered a love for filmmaking at the tender age of ten.

“I was looking around my dad’s computer and then I saw this program called Windows Movie Maker...and then I started making videos,” he explained.

His work started out simple.

“I started going on YouTube and then I started making Nerf war YouTube videos,” Villegas said.

Villegas said that he was influenced by fellow YouTubers like Freddie Wong and Corridor Digital.

“Back then it was a really big thing. You don’t really see high quality content like that on YouTube,” he said. “It was interesting to look at and I wanted to do something on my own.”

Kitsune, played by Victoria Miller, is on of the central characters in the action film "Project Fortress." The film by filmmaker Julan Villegas was screened at the Guam International Film Festival 2017(Photo: Courtesy of Julan Villegas)

Throughout high school Villegas continued to hone his craft.

“When I got to high school I wanted to keep this up so I started taking it a little bit more serious, writing scripts and making short films,” he said. “I just progressed and progressed, and then I improved in video editing and all that.”

He attended the Far East Creative Expressions program at Temple University in Tokyo, Japan where he and fellow high school students collaborated on a short film.

“That film that I wrote with my team, it made it to first place,” Villegas said. “Gold Director’s Choice.”

After the award-winning experience, Villegas had a fresh outlook on his future as a filmmaker. He was encouraged to be even more ambitious with his films.

“That’s where I thought I’m going to take it a step further and make a feature film, a short feature film,” Villegas said.

Victoria Miller, Julan Villegas, Austin Maciel Masterson and Javen Sotomil in character for Villegas' action film "Project Fortress." The film was screened at the Guam International Film Festival 2017(Photo: Courtesy of Julan Villegas)

A passion for action

“I definitely love making action movies,” Villegas said, citing Quentin Tarantino as an influence. “They’re fun to shoot even though they are one of the hardest things to create.”

Villegas explained that the action genre is particularly challenging.

“Anyone can make a short film with just dialogue but when you add action, all this unique stuff that you don’t see that often, especially made in Guam,” he said. “It’s nice to see that someone is out there making that stuff and I want to be the one making all this entertaining content.”

Villegas added that his love for film making pushes himself to seek new challenges.

"If I want to do something, I’m definitely going to be passionate about what I want to do...when it’s something I want to do, I put in all my effort into it," he said. "Whenever I make a film I want to give myself a challenge with it."

Julan Villegas at the Guam International Film Festival 2017. His entry into the festival was "Project Fortress", an action film he worked on independently.(Photo: Courtesy of Guam International Film Festival)

Present success

At 18, Julan Villegas premiered his film “Project Fortress” at the Guam International Film Festival 2017 along with filmmakers from around the Asia-Pacific region.

“My main goal of attending GIFF was to learn more,” Villegas said. “I used it as a learning experience as a filmmaker.”

He worked independently, writing, producing, directing and editing “Project Fortress” over a period of three years.

“This was the hardest thing that I had to do, ever,” Villegas said.

Villegas’ hard work paid off; his entrance into GIFF 2017 allowed him to connect with filmmakers and gain valuable knowledge.

He met Brian Kohne, an award-winning writer and filmmaker from Hawaii.

“He’s kind of like my mentor now, we still keep in touch,” Villegas said. “He encourages me to make movies, encourages me to go to film school, and I want to aim to do that.

Others praised Villegas for his work.

“One audience member who is also a filmmaker,” Villegas said. “He’s been to a lot of the Guam film festivals...he said that this was the best local film that he’s seen in all those years he’s been to the festivals.”

Villegas felt that the entire experience taught him a lot and helped grow his confidence as a filmmaker.